Method for assessing a software for a control unit of a vehicle

Abstract

A method for assessing a software for a control unit of a vehicle. The control unit includes a memory storing first and second versions of the software, and a processor. The method includes: receiving, in the control unit, sensor data generated by a sensor system for sensing an area surrounding the vehicle; inputting the sensor data into the first and second versions; generating first object data from the sensor data by the first version, the first object data including positions and/or orientations of first objects; generating second object data from the sensor data by the second version, the second object data including positions and/or orientations of second objects; assessing the second version in terms of a detection quality by comparing the first object data to the second object data, whereby an assessment result is produced; and transmitting the assessment result from the control unit to a central data-processing device.

What is claimed is: 
     
       1. A method for assessing a software for a control unit of a vehicle, the control unit including memory in which a first version of the software and a second version of the software are stored, and a processor for running the first version and the second version, the method comprising the following steps:
 receiving, in the control unit, sensor data generated by a sensor system for sensing an area surrounding the vehicle; 
 inputting the sensor data into the first version and the second version; 
 generating first object data from the sensor data by the first version, the first object data including positions and/or orientations of first objects, detected by the first version, in the area surrounding the vehicle; 
 generating second object data from the sensor data by the second version, the second object data including positions and/or orientations of second objects, detected by the second version, in the area surrounding the vehicle; 
 assessing the second version in terms of a detection quality by comparing the first object data to the second object data, to produce an assessment result; and 
 transmitting the assessment result from the control unit to a central data-processing device. 
 
     
     
       2. The method as recited in  claim 1 , wherein:
 for each first object of the first objects, at least one first assessment parameter is determined which indicates how well the first object was detected by the first version; 
 for each second object of the second objects, at least one second assessment parameter is determined which indicates how well the second object was detected by the second version; 
 wherein the second version is assessed by comparing the first assessment parameters to the second assessment parameters. 
 
     
     
       3. The method as recited in  claim 2 , wherein: i) the first assessment parameter is a detection moment at which the first object was detected by the first version, and/or ii) the second assessment parameter is a detection moment at which the second object was detected by the second version. 
     
     
       4. The method as recited in  claim 2 , wherein: i) the first assessment parameter is a probability with respect to the position and/or orientation of the first object, and/or ii) the second assessment parameter is a probability with respect to the position and/or orientation of the second object. 
     
     
       5. The method as recited in  claim 2 , wherein first objects relevant for the vehicle are selected from the first objects by the first version; objects matching up with each other being determined by comparing the relevant first objects to the second objects; and wherein the assessment parameters of the objects matching up with each other are compared to each other. 
     
     
       6. The method as recited in  claim 5 , wherein second objects relevant for the vehicle are selected by the second version from the second objects which do not match up with any relevant first object; for each relevant second object, an individual assessment is produced which indicates whether the detection of the relevant second object by the second version reflects an improvement or worsening of the detection quality of the second version compared to the first version; and the second version is further assessed based on the individual assessments. 
     
     
       7. The method as recited in  claim 6 , wherein based on the sensor data and/or on driving-dynamics data which were generated by at least one driving-dynamics sensor of the vehicle, changes in a driving state of the vehicle are determined which correlate timewise with detection moments at which the relevant second objects were detected by the second version; each individual assessment is produced by evaluating the change in the driving state correlating timewise with the respective relevant second object. 
     
     
       8. The method as recited in  claim 1 , wherein the second object data are generated in multiple successive time steps; the second objects are checked for plausibility by comparisons between the second object data from different time steps; and the second version is further assessed depending on the plausibility of the second objects. 
     
     
       9. The method as recited in  claim 1 , wherein the assessment result includes data sequences from the sensor data, from the first object data and/or from the second object data. 
     
     
       10. The method as recited in  claim 9 , wherein the data sequences are transmitted only when the second version was assessed to be worse than the first version in terms of the detection quality. 
     
     
       11. A control unit of a vehicle, comprising:
 a processor configured to assess a software for the control unit; and 
 memory in which a first version of the software and a second version of the software are stored, wherein the processor is configured to run the first version and the second version, the processor configured to:
 receive, in the control unit, sensor data generated by a sensor system for sensing an area surrounding the vehicle; 
 input the sensor data into the first version and the second version; 
 generate first object data from the sensor data by the first version, the first object data including positions and/or orientations of first objects, detected by the first version, in the area surrounding the vehicle; 
 generate second object data from the sensor data by the second version, the second object data including positions and/or orientations of second objects, detected by the second version, in the area surrounding the vehicle; 
 assess the second version in terms of a detection quality by comparing the first object data to the second object data, to produce an assessment result; and 
 transmit the assessment result from the control unit to a central data-processing device. 
 
 
     
     
       12. A non-transitory machine-readable storage medium on which is stored a computer program for assessing a software for a control unit of a vehicle, the control unit including memory in which a first version of the software and a second version of the software are stored, and a processor for running the first version and the second version, the computer program, when executed by the processor, causing the processor to perform the following steps:
 receiving, in the control unit, sensor data generated by a sensor system for sensing an area surrounding the vehicle; 
 inputting the sensor data into the first version and the second version; 
 generating first object data from the sensor data by the first version, the first object data including positions and/or orientations of first objects, detected by the first version, in the area surrounding the vehicle; 
 generating second object data from the sensor data by the second version, the second object data including positions and/or orientations of second objects, detected by the second version, in the area surrounding the vehicle; 
 assessing the second version in terms of a detection quality by comparing the first object data to the second object data, to produce an assessment result; and 
 transmitting the assessment result from the control unit to a central data-processing device.